Mags and Phil will take turns to sharetheir thoughts and ponderings with the world.

Wednesday, 3 October 2012

Battleship Church

I remember years ago
hearing a preach, at least twice, about how the church isn't supposed to be a
cruise liner but a battleship; everyone in their place with a job to do to
fight the battle. At the time I
absolutely agreed with it and if you’re the person who preached it, or if you’re
someone who absolutely believes this, then please don’t be offended by what
follows. It’s not a dig or a personal
attack it’s just a reflection of how far my thinking has changed over recent
years. (And perhaps it’s better news for
hurting, lost, damaged, frightened people than conscription into an army would
be!)

The implication of the
battleship analogy is that we have to fight.
That there is an active, dangerous enemy that has power, power to attack us,
hurt us, damage us or even possibly kill us if we’re just loafing about not
remaining constantly vigilant and ready to defend ourselves. We know we have a captain, Jesus, in charge
of the ship and he’s plotted out a victorious strategy and the outcome of the
war is assured but at the moment our enemy is fighting a vicious rear-guard
campaign designed to inflict maximum losses out of spite. Jesus’ earthly mission was like the D-Day
landings that turned the tide, the act that effectively won the war but the troops,
us, still need to advance to Berlin to ensure peace.

I'm not sure where
unbelievers fitted into the battleship analogy.
Were they held captive on enemy vessels?
Were they, in some cases, manning those vessels willingly; perhaps the
Satanists or those practicing the occult would be viewed this way? Were the unbelievers simply adrift in the
sea, clinging onto whatever flotsam and jetsam they could awaiting rescue? But once rescued instead of being repatriated
and given tea and sympathy they are immediately given a uniform, some basic
training and then assigned a post on the battleship!

You know what? I think the church IS a cruise liner. I think the captain is still Jesus, but he’s
a captain who’s no longer at war. He
actually did defeat the enemy as the scripture says in Colossians 2:13 -15 “When
you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made
you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge
of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has
taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and
authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the
cross”. He’s now the captain of ‘The
Love Boat’! We are the passengers, enjoyed
the rest spoken of in Hebrews 4, the victory over the sinful nature spoken of
in Romans 6, 7 & 8. The enemy is
stripped of power, and all that remains is the lies he spread via his
propaganda. We really don’t have to
actively engage in warfare. The only
weapon left to the enemy is lies. Jesus,
Mr. Truth, set us free!

Where are the
unbelievers in this analogy? Are they on
the enemy vessels? No – they were all
sunk. Are they adrift in the sea hoping
there are no sharks sniffing around? No. They’re on the ship with us! The only difference between the believers on
the ship, who spend all day enjoying the fullness and bounty of the banquet at
the captain’s table, relaxing in the sunshine, playing, having fun and loving
each other and the captain, is that they’re below decks in the dark in the
hold! They either don’t know the captain
bought them a ticket for the cruise and that they've got their own stateroom
ready and waiting or they don’t believe that they deserve it! Perhaps they don’t even believe that there is
an above-decks to come up to – perhaps they've believed so much of the enemy
propaganda they think the hard-life below decks is all there is.

Do we as believers have
a job to do? Yes. But it’s a pleasant task, an easy burden and
a light yolk. It doesn't involve
military drills, harsh discipline or fighting.
All we have to do is open a door into someone’s darkness in the hold and
love them into seeing that they really are invited to the captain’s table. The ticket is real, the full cost already
paid for. The cross paid the price for
all, 2 Corinthians 5:14 – “For Christ’s
love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore
all died”. So let’s enjoy our cruise,
invite as many as we can to join the feast and take Paul’s advice in Galatians
5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do
not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” which in this
analogy would be abandoning your luxury stateroom to go back below decks and
eke out an existence in the dark!